Four teens vandalize JES

Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.

The Jefferson Elementary School (JES) has long been a hot-button topic around the county since the Jefferson County School Board chose to lease out the derelict school building to 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (which has branches in Jefferson County).

For a few years, the JES building has been sitting empty, and the school board chose to lease the building to the 11th Episcopal District for a dollar-a-year lease agreement that will last for over 20 years.
The 11th Episcopal District had planned to use the former school campus as a community center, which would offer a variety of services and classes for youth and adults.
On Sunday, March 3, the 11th Episcopal District received a call that stated that the JES building had been vandalized.
In turn, the 11th Episcopal District's Rev. Clifford Hill contacted the Monticello Police Department (MPD) and alerted them to the crime.
On March 3, MPD's Lt. Pitts responded to the school building to meet with members of the Jefferson County School Board as well as members of the church group.
Lt. Pitts was informed that several glass doors and windows had been broken by vandals.
After conducting an initial evaluation of the damage, Lt. Pitts could see that the damage was far more extensive than was initially reported.
Due to the time of day as well as the fact that inclement weather was approaching (a storm system that sprouted multiple tornados, including one in Jefferson County, would roll through that evening), the case was turned over to an investigator at the MPD to be conducted on a following day.
On Wednesday, March 6, MPD's Sgt. Tharpe met with a Jefferson County School Board member and Jefferson County Superintendent of Schools Marianne Arbulu, as well as Rev. Hill, to conduct a secondary inspection of the building.
During the more thorough investigation, Sgt. Tharpe observed evidence that would indict that the perpetrators of the vandalism had entered through the northeast side of the school campus, north of Rocky Branch Road.
Utilizing items that were available around the campus, the subjects broke in various windows around the JES campus.
After gaining entrance to the building, according to a report provided by the MPD, the subjects continued to vandalize the building by dispersing fire extinguisher agent in various rooms, threw paperwork and books “haphazardly” around the rooms, broke fluorescent light bulbs, and drew crude and profane graffiti on the walls of the school.
Bookshelves were pushed over in the media center, with the books being tossed into piles. The windows to interior doors were broken.
Despite the extensive damage, no items appeared to be stolen.
Due to the amount of dust and grime that resided inside the building, it was not possible to take potential fingerprints.
Without fingerprints of the possible perpetrators and no witnesses to the crime, investigators at the MPD continued to review the case without many leads until Thursday, March 21 when Sgt. Tharpe made contact with a juvenile subject.
During an interview with the subject (post-Miranda rights reading and with a parent present), the juvenile provided information about the destructing vandalism at JES.
The juvenile explained that the group of perpetrators had planned to go to JES and "just explore" the empty building.
As several windows were already broken, the group had entered the campus building through one of the broken windows.
However, once inside the building, the juvenile claimed that another juvenile began “acting stupid” by spraying fire extinguishers while running down the hallways of the school.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group ran to the media center but later had to leave the room when another juvenile found another fire extinguisher and also began spraying it.
The group left the media center and went to a side building, where one of the subjects was breaking windows by throwing pieces of wood at the panes.
Further destruction took place in the music room and the PE room as the juveniles continued to spray fire extinguishers and use sports balls to break more windows.
A wheelchair was found in the school campus, and the group brought it back to the media center, where the young perpetrators ran the wheelchair around the room so many times that “the wheels fell off.”
After discovering a trophy box, the juveniles broke the glass case and threw the trophies around the room.
Three of the juveniles wrote the vulgar and profane phrases and pictures on the walls with markers.
The report provided by the MPD further states that the interviewed juvenile claimed to have “no remorse” for the actions committed by themselves or the group.
Over the course of several more days, Sgt. Tharpe interviewed four other subjects and each subject corroborated the statements of the other juveniles.
All of the interviewed juveniles were adamant that no outside influence had caused them to commit the crime, but that they had broken in and vandalized the school building for their own amusement.
The total amount of damages are estimated to be in the excess of $30,000.
At the March 11 School Board meeting, Rev. Hill informed the school board members and the public of the crime.
“The building is not usable at this moment, and we had planned to get it up and running right away,” said Rev. Hill. “Right now, we are putting everything on hold until we find out what the school board is going to do about the vandalism in that building.”
“We are devastated,” Rev. Hill adds, for both himself and the organization he represents.
The four juveniles that were arrested and charged with burglary of a dwelling or structure, causing damage over $1,000 and damage of property-criminal mischief of $1,000 or more were Joshua Moore, Emma Moore, Corbin West and Camren Boucher.